Netanyahu Lawyer Warns Trial Timeline May Shift

Attorney Amit Haddad, representing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, issued a stark warning to the Jerusalem District Court on Wednesday, stating that restricting his cross-examination of former Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit would necessitate a fundamental overhaul of the defense's investigation strategy for the entire trial. Haddad argued that the defense team had relied on the ability to question Mandelblit about substantive decisions that police officers had attributed directly to him.

During the hearing, Haddad emphasized that the defense never agreed to limit questions solely to the technical aspect of Mandelblit's required approvals under the Basic Law: Government. The primary goal, he explained, is to delve into the practical decisions Mandelblit made throughout the investigations, including investigative actions he did not approve and exculpatory lines of inquiry that were not fully pursued.

Haddad presented evidence that during the questioning of other police and law enforcement officials, it was repeatedly stated that Mandelblit was the sole authority making these decisions. When the defense sought to clarify these matters with investigators, they were consistently directed to the higher authority who made the final call. Now, with Mandelblit on the stand, the prosecution is seeking to block these questions.

"If things remain as they are, we will rewrite investigations, and it will take time," Haddad told the judges, adding, "Our investigations are built in a specific structure, and we will need to recalculate." He stressed that blocking these questions would irrevocably harm the defense's ability to present the full factual picture to the judges.

Prosecution team leader, attorney Yehudit Tirosh, countered that Mandelblit's testimony should not become an extensive internal review of prosecutorial decision-making processes before the indictment. She argued that Mandelblit's need to approve specific actions out of caution did not make him the de facto investigation director. Tirosh warned that acceding to Haddad's request would lead to delving into countless internal memos and privileged opinions, shifting focus from the defendants' guilt to the prosecution's internal judgment.

The defense is fighting to expose decisions and failures linked to Mandelblit, while the prosecution aims to confine his testimony to narrow, defined topics. The warning of "recalculating the route" and delaying proceedings places significant pressure on the judges, raising fundamental questions about the defendant's right to conduct their defense and potentially setting a precedent for future trials.